No abstract

This cross-sectional study determined physical-fitness levels of more than 1,000 Japanese older men and women, including 338 participants who were 75 years of age and older. Each participant performed 11 tests representing 4 domains of functioning (muscular, joint, neural, and respiratory). Two-way ANOVA was used to examine gender and age differences for each variable. Performance on every test decreased with advancing age, but the declines did not occur at a uniform rate. In addition, men and women did not decline at the same rate for each variable. Although leg strength, balance ability, and reaction time did not decline until after the age of 65, they exhibited the steepest decline of all the variables after age 75. These findings suggest that significant declines in physical fitness occur with advancing age, especially those that are related to mobility and risk for falls.

This study aimed to compare body sway characteristics of the healthy elderly and the disordered elderly. The subjects were 38 healthy elderly and 24 disordered elderly with disequilibrium. The latter consisted of two groups: 12 elderly with vestibular organ or central nervous systems disorder (central nervous disorders), and 12 elderly with disorder in other systems (other disorders). The measurement device can calculate the center of foot pressure (CFP) of vertical loads from the values of three vertical load sensors, which are located at the corners of an isosceles triangle on a level surface. The data sampling frequency was 20 Hz. Four body sway factors with high reliability (unit time sway, frontback sway, left-right sway, and high frequency band power) were used to evaluate body sway. As compared with healthy people, central nervous disorders had larger unit time sway, high frequency band power, and left-right sway factors. Other disorders were larger in unit time sway and high frequency band power factors. Central nervous disorders, as compared with other disorders, had larger unit time sway and left-right sway factors. Disorders produced large and fast sway, and central nervous disorders in particular showed a marked sway in the left-right direction. The existence of disease influenced body sway more than decline in various functions related to posture control with aging, because even with the same elderly, disorders showed a larger body sway.

The evaluation of muscular power function has been mainly limited to dynamic contraction, but

Objective: In this study, we examined the characteristics of depression determination using four representative self-rating depression scales (Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS; Self-rating Depression Scale, SDS; Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale, CES-D; and Carroll Rating Scale, CRS) applied to Japanese community-dwelling elderly.Methods: Subjects were 563 community-dwelling independent elderly living in twelve prefectures (330 males, 68.9±6.3 yr; 233 females, 68.1±5.8 yr).Results: Depression rates determined using SDS (45.8%) and CES-D (68.6%) were higher than those determined using GDS (5.7%) and CRS (14.7%). Although correlations of depression scale scores among the four scales were significant and comparable (r: 0.61 (GDS vs. SDS, p<0.01) to 0.78 (SDS vs. CES-D, p<0.01)), the agreement in depression determination varied among scales (kappa coefficients: 0.05 (GDS vs. CES-D, p>0.05) to 0.46 (SDS vs. CES-D, p<0.01)).Conclusions: Similarities in depression determination were found between GDS and CRS, and between CES-D and SDS. Depression rates determined on the basis of cut-off point for each scale were higher for CES-D and SDS than for GDS and CRS. Depression determination using a four-point rating scale may overestimate a slightly depressive symptom, compared with that using a two-point scale.